Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the The Planted Tank Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Topic Review (Newest First)

08-25-2013 11:52 AM

saltdiscus

i know this is old thread.after reading this why has all your betta died in this tank.i was planning to buy for my betta.

12-31-2012 04:43 AM

Antdim

Hi I was just reading your post from start to finish. I hope your bf is doing OK.
I may have a little insight into the snails issue. I recently purchased 3 sparkling gouramis and i swear I saw an almost immediate drop of snails in the tank. I think they eat the small ones. I can't prove it but i think that's what happend. I have some ghost shrimp there and they'll even go and bite those even though they were bigger than them.
Well the bad news is that my large gourami (i had 3 sizes as well) bullied the other two and eventually they died after about 1 week or so. He ( i call him he) is still alive and thriving apparently. not shy at all. anyway... just my two cents.

10-16-2012 11:14 PM

Pooky125

Just did a full rescape/trim job on the tank. New pictures coming in a few day once it clears up and the fish settle back in.

10-16-2012 12:31 AM

Pooky125

Thanks! The fish sure seem to like it. I'm really hoping the younger of the two ends up being a male for me. Perhaps I'll get eggs. They've settled in really nicely in the last few months. Really active and curious.

He's getting there. Probably 6 more months before everything internal is back to where it should be, and another 2 years for the scars to heal, but other then that, he's doing MUCH better.

The tank looks great! And cool shots of the fish....a nice mature tank like that must be a lot of fun for the fish.

PS: I hope your b/f is on the full road to recovery if not 100% already!

10-16-2012 12:08 AM

golfer_d

The tank looks great! And cool shots of the fish....a nice mature tank like that must be a lot of fun for the fish.

PS: I hope your b/f is on the full road to recovery if not 100% already!

10-15-2012 07:25 AM

Pooky125

Updates!

So, 1 week after I posted my last update, my boyfriend got hit by a truck (pulling a trailer, carrying a racecar). Awesome times. Anywho, he spent 11 days in the hospital, and an addition 4 weeks at home, on morphine and ridiculous levels of anti-inflammatories. It was some pretty sock rocking good times, and serious aquarium neglect times. Plus side, my aquariums like neglect, I've discovered. My fish grew, my plants grew, everything continued to stay happy and healthy.

Well. Almost everything. In that 6ish weeks barely remembering to top off and drop some worms in the tank, my snails started melting. Well. Their shells started melting. Nothing else in the tank is affected, but my snail population is declining. I, actually have no problems with this, but have never had this happen before. If anyone has any input on it, I'd love to hear it!

In other news, over the last month or so, after every weekly water change, my sparkling gourami's have started croaking. According to my brief search on youtube for such things, it sounds as if at least one of them is female. I'm not sure if they both are, or if the smaller of the two is just to immature to be sexually active or not yet. Either way, someone's happy. I did a water change 8 hours ago, and I can still hear them clicking away when I'm in the room. Sounds a bit like breaking thick glass. If my tank weren't acrylic, I would be worried. As it stand, I have to assume I'm doing something right!

The crypts in the tank, are really, really getting overwhelmingly tall now. On the one hand, I want to rip them out and replace them with something shorter. On the other hand, I'm broke. Also, I'm not sure what I'd put there. And, it's a dirted tank, and they've started spreading. Getting them out MIGHT not be possible. I'm tossing around the idea of trying it anyway, and seeing if I can coerce some java moss to make a carpet around the front of the tank, like I've got going on in the 25 in places, or if I should just leave it, and let it mature and be happy. The bolbitus continues to thrive. When I was doing a water changed today, I looked. The back 5 inches are all thick, lush bolbitus, to the point that for the most part, you can't even see the back wall of the tank. On the one hand, gorgeous! On the other, it really MIGHT be time to thin it out now. I keep saying I'm going to, I keep not doing it. It's just so pretty! But, since I'm rethinking mild rescape, perhaps it's time. It's an idea I'll have to toss around for a bit more, I think, before I make any decisions.

Finally an update! I picked up 3 sparkling gourami's on the 27th of July. The largest one, the smallest one, and the darkest one, purely so I could tell which was which. They had just arrived from the distributor, hadn't even hit the store tanks yet. They settled in ok, but about a week after I brought them home, I moved the tank 18 inches to the left, and I haven't found the largest one since. The other two are growing up nicely. They're still VERY juvenile, so their coloration leaves a bit to the imagination. The large MIA one, however, was quite lovely. I'm hoping they take after him.

The last week and a half I've been exclusively feeding live foods. I haven't quite worked out how many microworms are required to feed 2 itty bitty gouramis (not many!), so I have a bit of algae growing in the bolbitus that I pick out every week or so, when I do water changes. Otherwise, all is well.

With just the stock lighting on:

For picture taking purposes, I put a 27 watt PC bulb over it.

07-19-2012 05:58 AM

Pooky125

FINALLY got an updated picture tonight. My light turns off at about 9:40, so it was hard getting one after the sunset, but before the lights clicked off, but, finally, I HAVE SUCCEEDED!

Right, in other news, the local petstore is doing an order of sparkling gouramis for me this week. They SHOULD be here on Friday, hopefully I can grab a few more pictures of them next week after they've settled in.

Also, the left back corner is looking slightly sparse, as that's where I ganked out a bunch of plants to go into my 25 gallon. I'm thinking in a month or two it should fill in nicely and you won't even notice. That, or I'll go through and pull out quite a bit from the rest of the tank, as it's gotten pretty thick back there.

Anyway, it's a pretty easy going tank. Could probably use an oto at the moment, there's a very, VERY fine dusting of brown algae on the glass, but mostly it's algae free and happy.

07-06-2012 11:20 PM

Pooky125

UPS dropped off the light today. Took about a week transit time, but it's making a HUGE difference on the tank. I really will try and get updated pictures tonight, now that I have enough light to actually photograph the tank. I never realized how much of a difference 6 little LED's made.

07-01-2012 07:34 PM

Pooky125

Little, pictureless update on this thread.

My lighting is going out. 6 LED's are officially fried, with another few on their way out. I emailed Aqueon, and they were really excellent about it. Got back to me quickly, I emailed them a copy of my receipt, and they put a new light fixture in the mail for me. I haven't received it yet, but this all happened within the last week.

None the less, I'll try and get some updated pictures this week. I just ripped out about a quarter of my bolbitus for another project and you can hardly even tell. It needs a serious trimming soon, maybe next week I do more thinning.

06-10-2012 04:18 AM

Pooky125

Little late getting back to this thread, not sure if it will be terribly helpful. As for me, I bought a pair of sponges for a Fluval canister filter, I think (it's written in this thread somewhere) and stuck them standing on the long end at the front casing of the filter, one on top of the other. That was pretty much high enough to cover all the intake holes, to keep shrimp from getting in. I never had a problem, but I've heard of others who did. I filled behind that with filter floss, and when I can get my hands on some bioballs, I'll probably put them at the bottom. So, my set up would be, medium sponges against the wall that divides the tank from the filter, bioballs on the bottom half, and filter floss on the top half.

I was wondering if I can ask a few questions. I have the evolve 8
I has dwarf hairgrass and HC in emersed right now. I plan on flooding it in the next few weeks and putting some moss in with it and eventually add some cherry shrimp.

My main question is how do I set up the filter?
This is my first planked tank and I don't want to use the carbon filter it came with
I'm thinking ceramic bio in the bottom
Followed by fine filter and on top a course filter.
Is this right?
Do I need to block the intake with anything to stop shrimp from getting in?
Please help.
Photos and more info on the rank are under my tank section

05-25-2012 04:05 PM

J.mccollum

I was wondering if I can ask a few questions. I have the evolve 8
I has dwarf hairgrass and HC in emersed right now. I plan on flooding it in the next few weeks and putting some moss in with it and eventually add some cherry shrimp.

My main question is how do I set up the filter?
This is my first planked tank and I don't want to use the carbon filter it came with
I'm thinking ceramic bio in the bottom
Followed by fine filter and on top a course filter.
Is this right?
Do I need to block the intake with anything to stop shrimp from getting in?
Please help.
Photos and more info on the rank are under my tank section

03-30-2012 03:47 PM

acitydweller

Hi Pook,

Just wanted to update you on my two evolve 4g's.

Both had bettas to begin with but both passed away oddly at the same day... Considering they were completely independant tanks, i wonder if there wasnt something in the water... anywho

fast forward today. Both of them are now shrimp tanks and heavily planted.

my first 5 cherrys that i ever bought are still in there and have since had 5 babies in the tank. My missing babies in the past were likely attributed to the sump intake being unprotected, hence my post earlier to you regarding the fluval sponge stuff'd in for protection.

my other tank, is stocked with higher grade sakura shrimp which have more of a full red body, and less transparency of the cherries. there was a lapse where i would lose a shrimp a day. On day 3, i did a major 80% water change and actually cleaned the gravel particularly where i used to concentrate all my feeding. It was very dirty there, and only there for obvious reasons.

Since then i also started adding mineral additives, namely Calcium Montmorillonite. Mosura and these other companies market it as Old sea mud but it adds the calcium and other stuff that the shrimp need in their environment. ive only added about a pinch or so a week for the past two weeks. I have 1 sakura that was berried and now nearly bursting to give birth in the tank so i am excited. i hope the eggs hatch and not drop.

Ive also upgraded the food from the fluval, hikari pellets and algae wafers to some of the borneo wild products. It has certainly increased the survival rate and my peace of mind that they are more comfortable. Anyway, i should start a journal for my evolves too but happy to keep up with your progress with equal enthusiasm!

Hey Pooky,
You are making great progress with your Evolve. I added cherry shrimp and had to add a fluval foam filter to the sump intake to prevent any accidental deaths. i do see 2 or 3 shrimplets so there had to have been a birth in the tank. The malaysian trumpet snails and pond snails also have kids around. The best thing i've added to the tank (for the shrimp) was java moss. they graze on it all day. will probably attach it to the driftwood one of these free weekends...

Thanks! It's currently having some problems that I'm working out. I've lost a few shrimp. The first, I figured was because I got them as adults, and thus, didn't know how old it was. The second, I thought might be a bad molt, as it died next to a fresh one. Then I lost a couple more, and started to get worried. Now I'm doing large daily water changes and everything seems to be holding fine. It all started after my last water change, so I'm wondering if something contaminated my bottle of Prime. I switched water conditioners, so we'll see if this theory holds true.

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but there actually is a bit of java moss attached to the larger of the pieces of driftwood. It came in as a hitch hiker and I haven't gotten around to doing anything about it. There's also a clump of what I think is willow moss floating around in the front left corner. Again, it's hard to see. They don't seem to spend much time on it though. They're much more fascinated by the bolbitus and the IAL leaves I drop in regularly.

03-20-2012 08:46 PM

acitydweller

Hey Pooky,
You are making great progress with your Evolve. I added cherry shrimp and had to add a fluval foam filter to the sump intake to prevent any accidental deaths. i do see 2 or 3 shrimplets so there had to have been a birth in the tank. The malaysian trumpet snails and pond snails also have kids around. The best thing i've added to the tank (for the shrimp) was java moss. they graze on it all day. will probably attach it to the driftwood one of these free weekends...

This thread has more than 15 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.